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Fire Greg Schiano

The case against Greg Schiano has its opening argument rooted in December 2012.

The 6-6 Bucs, alive in the playoff hunt, were home against the struggling 3-9 Eagles led by rookie quarterback Nick Foles.

Leading 21-16 on the heels of consecutive long touchdown drives engineered by Josh Freeman, Schiano and the Bucs got the ball back with 3:55 left in the game. And Schiano played not to lose. Freeman’s previous three passes had been a 28-yard completion on 3rd-and-7 and a 13-yard touchdown pass sandwiched around an incompletion; there also was a key 13-yard scramble on a 3rd-and-9 mixed in. But Schiano took the ball out of Freeman’s hands.

Four runs up the gut and a Bucs holding penalty led to a 3rd-and-8 at the Tampa Bay 38 yard line. Rather than ride his suddenly warm quarterback and Vincent Jackson, who had six catches for 131 yards that day, Schiano opted to run the ball to set up a punt.

He put the game in the hands of one of the worst defensive backfields in NFL history. Game over. The Bucs have never recovered.

Schiano told media after that Eagles game he knew how to get the team out of its funk. He had been there before, he said. The Bucs responded by heading to New Orleans the following Sunday — still mathematically in the playoff chase — and getting creamed 41-0.

The 2013 opener

Fast forward to opening day 2013 at the Meadowlands. The Bucs have the ball trailing 15-14 on the Jets’ 19 yard line with :50 remaining in the game. It was 3rd-and-3, and Josh Freeman’s last pass was a 37-yard connection to Vincent Jackson on a key 3rd-and-10 on the drive.

Doug Martin had struggled that afternoon and was averaging less than three yards per carry (the Jets likely will finish this season as the NFL’s best run defense), but the play call on 3rd-and-3 was a handoff to Martin, who didn’t get the first down, which would have iced the game. After the Jets’ final timeout, the Bucs were forced to kick the go-ahead field goal with 38 seconds remaining.

Again, Schiano played not to lose, and the Jets came back to win.

Week 2

Leading 14-13 at home against the Saints with 6:56 left in the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay had the ball with a chance to potentially put the game away. The Bucs’ drive started from their own 14 yard line.

Josh Freeman connected on 3rd-and-9 from the Bucs’ 15 yard line, a 20-yard strike to Vincent Jackson. Freeman’s next pass? An 18-yard connection to Jackson on 2nd-and-9. Freeman never threw the ball again that day.

Five consecutive Doug Martin runs netted 14 yards and the Bucs were faced with 3rd-and-6 from the Saints’ 32 yard line. The call was handoff Martin for three yards. Rian Lindell missed the ensuing 47-yard field goal, and Drew Brees had 1:06 to set up a winning score. Three consecutive completions followed. The last and biggest was to Marques Colston, who inexplicably wasn’t being covered by Darrelle Revis. That set up an easy 27-yard field goal to win.

Again, Schiano got conservative– and lost.

Don’t blame Freeman

Now those first two losses of 2013 can’t be hung on sleepy, leaky Rip Van Freeman, who moved the ball in crunch time against two strong defenses and his offense left the field with the lead. (Yes, the Saints’ defense is fourth-ranked in the NFL. The Jets are 11th.) Schiano inexplicably played it safe and got burned.

A week later, Freeman was ousted for rookie Mike Glennon because the third-round pick, per Schiano, gave the Bucs “the best chance to win.”

Freeman takes a lot of blame for the Bucs troubles. But how much does he deserve?

Schiano put a quarterback on the field to start the season that he didn’t trust. It was clear Schiano didn’t trust Freeman at the end of 2012. You think Bucs players didn’t know that? You think that wasn’t clear when Glennon got a tremendous amount of training camp reps and preseason snaps? Schiano’s lack of trust hurt his team.

Media mess and distractions

When Freeman was benched after Week 3, Schiano wasn’t prepared for the wild media mess and subsequent distractions that ensued.

On the Monday following the Week 3 loss in New England, Freeman was absolutely the starting QB, Schiano said. On Tuesday night, Freeman did his evening radio show as the starter and talked about how close the Bucs were to clicking. On Wednesday morning, Freeman was benched before the Bucs hit the practice field.

Freeman refused to be a good teammate and intentionally orchestrated chaos in order to get cut. Schiano and the Bucs will tell you they didn’t predict that reaction. But why not?

Schiano has strongly implied that Freeman had long-standing, off-field issues, yet at the same time Freeman was allowed to linger long enough to have a meltdown and infect the Bucs. Did Schiano and his bosses not believe Freeman had a selfish, unpredictable, F-you streak in him? Something doesn’t fit.

Regardless, Freeman was enabled by Schiano to throw the Bucs off course. Cutting a player of Freeman’s stature was a call that surely wasn’t all Schiano’s, but the head coach is ultimately responsible for what affects his team. For a coach who takes pride in being on the details, Schiano wasn’t prepared for the fallout of benching Freeman.

Imagine if Freeman played Game 4 against the Cardinals, then was cut or traded immediately, and Mike Glennon was phased in comfortably during the bye week. The Bucs could have avoided a lot of pain and suffering and distractions.

0-8

The Bucs had far too much healthy talent on the roster to go 0-8. There’s no way to justify it.

With the offense under Mike Glennon actually moving the ball during games 5-8, the Bucs defense allowed an average of 30 points per game. The Eagles (in Tampa) ran the ball 11 consecutive times up the gut of the Bucs’ defense – 11 in a row! — to set up the game-icing field goal with 2:34 on the clock. Without Roddy White and Julio Jones, the Falcons’ Harry Douglas abused the Bucs defense in Atlanta. The Panthers roughed them up in Tampa on that ugly night in October. A 21-point lead in Seattle wasn’t enough.

Player evaluation

Greg Schiano and his staff have been successful developing players, but what about evaluating talent? The two go hand in hand but they are different.

Joe can’t believe in the possibility that Schiano wanted Michael Bennett to return but Team Glazer and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik refused to pay Bennett. That wouldn’t make any sense.

Somehow, Schiano studied film of his stable of returning defensive ends, Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, Da’Quan Bowers and Adrian Clayborn, and determined that Bennett, his leading run-stuffer and sackmaster of 2012, was expendable because Bowers was a stud-in-waiting. This year, 28-year-old Bennett has 7.5 sacks with Seattle in a part-time role. Clayborn, Bowers and Te’o have seven combined.

Schiano played a big role in the messes at defensive end and quarterback. Throw in evaluations at left guard and center, too. Somebody, after watching 2012 film, and the 2013 preseason, determined that Ted Larsen was a capable backup at those positions. He wasn’t.

The competition

Evaluating Schiano must factor in how he stacks up against his peers. Match up Schiano versus his NFC South brethren, and that data looks ugly.

After Raheem Morris’ second season, he was a Coach of the Year candidate with the “yungry, race-to-10″ Bucs. Those 2010 Bucs (10-6) were the first team in modern NFL history to start 10 rookies and have a winning record. Has Schiano improved after two seasons?

Joe can’t say with any certainty that Schiano is on the rise. If the Bucs find a way to beat the Saints on Sunday, then, yes, Tampa Bay will have a 5-3 record in the second half of this season, and that would make it clear that Schiano is on the right path.

But as of right now, Schiano doesn’t inspire confidence. Losing three straight to close the season would make things measurably worse.

A championship head coach?

There’s absolutely only one reason to stick with an NFL head coach: because you believe he can craft a winner and lead a team to the Super Bowl.

Greg Schiano’s 32-game body work doesn’t suggest that at all. The signs are not there. Sure, there are some positive elements in place. Schiano is not all bad, but there’s just not enough evidence or hope.

What compounds the situation is the fact that the Bucs, with the NFL’s worst offense (and sinking), appear forced to replace offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan and very likely their starting quarterback. Those are massive, franchise-impacting changes that shouldn’t be granted to the leader of the New Schiano Order.

I’d a lot more confident if I knew who the new coach was. Some would argue we couldn’t get worse….be careful what you wish for!!!
But in the final analysis….firing is OK…just not today. Merry Christmas to all and that includes Schiano & Family!!!

If they fire Schiano it should not be Lovie Smith. I would not be opposed to the Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien. He has held many different coaching positions in the NFL including Offensive Coordinator where the Patriots led the NFL in scoring.

Lovie Smith’s teams made it to the playoffs 3 times and the Super bowl 1 time. His team only made it to the playoffs once after the Super bowl in 6 seasons. I think it should be an offensive minded coach.

Offense – predictable and inefficient. The nfl is a passing league and we have a heavy run offense. Just so stubborn.

Defense – the stunting winds me up. Sheridan got booted out of NY for it. D linemen should not be dropping into coverage. I honestly think we should have the best D in the league with our players. McCoy David and revis are the arguably the best at their positions.

Saying we are 1 or 2 players away from a dominant D is a farce. Just an excuse. You could are argue that half the teams in the league are a few players away from being dominant. We should be dominant now with our talent!

It’s never good firing a coach but we might as well start a fresh. It would be a very desirable job!

I like the Glazers. I think they are trying very hard. But the truth is that the Glazers are the problem. They can’t get out of their own way and hire the right staff to do the job. When they had the right staff, twice, that only required a little bit of tweaking, they fired them. Now Schiano has a 5 year contract that they don’t want to eat. Penn State is their best hope, but I think Schiano will turn it around next year.

I agree with the premise of the article but the continuous defending of Freeman and Dominik has gotten really old. This article actually got me annoyed. Just because Josh put together 1 good drive in the first two weeks does not absolve him from blame. The turnovers, the bad throws, the missed throws, all put us in a position to lose.

Josh wasn’t the problem in Weeks 1 and 2. Both should have been wins. It was Schiano who decided to go half-assed with Freeman coming off a solid year in 2012. … Why not give him more reps in practice and plenty of preseason work? Or why not just go with Glennon altogether. That’s on Schiano. However you slice it up Schiano bungled the situation.

Winning against New Orleans would prove the needle is pointing up Joe! Really? After all those great points you just made you actually just said were moving in the right direction if we beat the saints lol thank God your not one of the glazers, they have enough issues. Bottom line is he’s not even an upgrade over Raheem Morris. Win our loss next week he’s simply not good enough to coach on OUR division….his wets the bed in game day….he coaches like he’s scared to lose not like he’s playing it safe

Freeman refused to be a good teammate and intentionally orchestrated chaos in order to get cut. Schiano and the Bucs will tell you they didn’t predict that reaction. But why not?

Schiano has strongly implied that Freeman had long-standing, off-field issues, yet at the same time Freeman was allowed to linger long enough to have a meltdown and infect the Bucs. Did Schiano and his bosses not believe Freeman had a selfish, unpredictable, F-you streak in him? Something doesn’t fit.
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Freeman wanted to be on the sidelines even after he got benched. The HC didn’t want him out there and said putting him (Free) in the inactive suite was a mutual decision when it wasn’t. The HC and the organization to an extent, instituted the chaos by not handling it correctly from a professional/business standpoint i.e. getting a draft pick via trade. Josh Freeman needs to work on his mechanics (throwing off backfoot, not reading the defense correctly at times) and (according to some) stay off the streets. Tony Dungy and Warren Sapp said the benching in their opinion wasn’t justified and those 2 have had more success in the NFL than Schi has.

anyone who says Josh was solid last year or deserved more of a chance or was a good teammate is just a Schiano hater in denial. Josh and Dominik set this franchise back half a decade. Schiano needs to be fired but anyone who thinks he ever wanted Josh is a moron. Freeman was a cancer and ruined this franchise.

Joe makes good points. Freeman played well enough to win the first two games but Schiano blew them both with bad decision-making. Freeman was and is a better QB than Glennon, but Schiano wanted “his guy” and showed Freeman the door. And then with our rookie QB before we knew it we were 0 and 8.

Bottom line – in year two, did the team get better or worse? Worse, obviously. We’re moving in the wrong direction. Schiano might learn from this and be a good coach one day, but only if he’s fired. Keep him around another year and screw up the opportunity to let another coach draft some good talent… like a starting QB, for example.

A good bonus reason to fire Schiano may be that it will end the constant barrage of “Fire Schiano” posts….not really a pleasant experience for Buc fans….at least if he is fired we can look forward to the new coach, assistants & the draft…and then look forward to a new season and the necessary honeymoon for the new coach’s record..oh….I forgot, we just had that didn’t we?

Hire Zimmer as HC Hugh Jackson as OC… Only thing I’ve liked from the NSO is the drafts kinda wanna keep Dom u can knock him all u want but the man has tried to make the bucs a winner with big moves IMO

The Glazers don’t care about your “I’m a season ticket holder” threats. The stadium could be empty for an entire season and they would still make a profit. Television money dwarfs your ticket and concessions money, to the point where your money is just a tiny drop in the bucket in comparison. The Glazers will do what they believe is best for their organization, threats or no threats. Go away.

Blasphemy!!! Freeman good enough to win games that we lost… how dare you even suggest such a thing??? (But you did miss a few games he was also good enough to win that we lost). But, hey, he wasn’t a rookie, so doesn’t get a pass. Time to move on and draft our new QB with our new HC and staff. All I can ask for is someone that looks at the talents of the players we have and finds a way to use them rather than demand they fit a scheme that doesn’t suit them… (or a scheme that shouldn’t suit any player in the NFL). Several players that have come and gone actually had limited success with these horrible schemes… let’s call that “everyone get’s lucky sometime”. Now, let’s quit relying on luck and work on making a plan that fits the guys we have and any new additions we add (be it DE, TE, OL, 3WR, whatever…)

Couple of question. Are the Glazers original Tampa Bay residents? Do they care about the community? Do they do a lot of charity work in the community, or are they “carpetbaggers”
Secondly, I am wondering if there are many NFL coaches that are that adaptable? We know for sure that Schiano certainly is not!!

If I knew we could get Bill O’Brien/Penn State, I would replace Schiano without hesitation. Otherwise I would give Schiano another year.

It’s like a QB that has franchise potential in the draft – if you don’t have one, you can’t afford to pass him up because you don’t know when that kind of talent will show up again.

O’Brien has those kinds of credentials. Every team in the NFL will want to talk to this guy. I don’t care if Schiano is back for another year, but if O’Brien is available we can’t afford to let his kind of team-building talent slip through our fingers.

Knowing the Bucs, we may not give this guy a whiff, but wait and see. He is going to be the hottest coaching commodity in the NFL in 2014.

Now this is a “campaign” I could support. I’m tired of lousy football and lack of real hope next year and beyond. The problem is the whole regime needs to change. And unless the Amish Boys have been working behind the scenes on this…few if any changes will be made. Probably just a Sullivan Scapegoating…Happy Festivus to the rest of us.

Jim…since I’m not a Cowboys fan I don’t know why Jerry Jones does what he does and I really don’t care to bother finding out. But if I had to guess I’d say it was to make more money. Isn’t that the only real reason to own an NFL team in the first place?

I can tell you this, though. Cowboys season ticket holders have wanted Jerry to stop being GM for years now. They complain in large numbers continually. But guess what? He doesn’t care. He will be the GM until the day he dies and the season ticket holders can stuff it as far as he is concerned.

Don’t fool yourself…NFL owners will gladly take your season ticket money but that doesn’t give you a vote on team policy. The NFL is not a democracy, it’s a dictatorship and the 32 owners do what they want, when they want, how they want. You can join them by paying your dues or you can leave. They really don’t care because they’re gonna make their money either way.

^I should’ve said 31 owners because the Packers are technically a publicly-owned corporation with a board that makes policy. But that board doesn’t include season ticket holders being given a vote, either.

You are right. No one person is to blame…but taken one at a time, let’s start by firing Schiano. Every aspect of his skill set (?) is at question. Starting with the defensive line, then the oline, then the scheme and then the coaching within the scheme, and then the awareness of the NFLs working with the clock, when to take time outs, when to go for it and when to put in those trick places and my personal favorite keep running the ball into the back of your own linemen for three plays in a row. Same play not executed three times. Even mice don’t go down the same path in the maze if there is no cheese at the end. C’mon man!

Excellent article Joe, easily one of the best of the season for you. Great summary and analysis on Greg Schiano’s employment as head coach so far. I’m not sure I want him around either. But if he gets this next win against the Saints to finish the season on a 5-3 record after an 0-8 start, I see the Glazers bringing him back regardless of what the fans say. If he loses, it’s adios coach. What a mess this season was.

If Schiano does end up getting fired, is there any possibility that it could happen say a week or two after black Monday or should we expect to happen immediately after the season? I’m as anxious as everyone else to see what happen lol. Someone mentioned O’brien as our next coach and I agree with that 100%.

In reading many of the comments I see the love for lovie Smith, but he is a Defensive minded coach. he made his mark with Defenses. We need offense. thats why my vote goes to ken Wisenhut, current OC for San Diego. Look at what he has done this year – Sand Diego is ranked 4th in total yards with Rivers in the top five QB rankings and their RB is a top five in stats. Wisenhut as HC, Lovie Smith DC.

Its a great article, I agree w every word written. And while I too want Schiano fired, I don’t think the Glazers will/can do it.

The Glazers have pigeon holed themselves into a corner. They gave the man a 5 year contract, approved the release of Freeman and watched helpless as MRSA and injuries riddled this team.

Even if they do fire Schiano, who on this website trusts them to hire the right guy for the job? O’Brien sounds like a great candidate, and I agree we need a progressive, offensive minded coach. But does anyone recall the list of circus clowns they interviewed last year before settling on Chip Kelly? He realized what kind of a mess this ownership is and bailed. Schiano was their backup plan, and a poor one at that. I

I don’t trust in this ownership (hire a dang president of football operations already!) I don’t believe in the coaching staff, and I don’t think anyone will be held accountable. This franchise became a laughing stock before Schiano arrived, and it has become even worse under his tenure.

Schiano talks a good game and says all the right things, but can’t transfer it to the field or have it translate into wins. I just don’t think that he can put a Championship team on the field in the NFL and no Bucs fan wants to have to suffer through another year like this one

Fire Schiano, sure, and get what next year?
This isn’t fantasy football. Not every GM drafts hall of famers, not every coach can win multiple Super Bowls and not every player is a pro-bowler. It’s true that this guy has made some mistakes. ALL coaches do. Personally, I think he deserves another year. 2 years is not enough time to put together a roster or instill a new philosophy. Pushing “reset” only creates more questions than answers. Firing Schiano will not necessarily win us more games and that is why I lobby for one more year. ONE! We will know for sure after that because we won’t have the Freeman drama and Schiano will have had 3 years to draft his “own” guys.
Go Bucs!

@ jo mama
Sorry but those are not valid arguments. When Belichick was at Cleveland they were having ownership and location problems and had no money or roster to work with
Tom Coughlin took a job with an expansion team.
Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones purged their roster to build a new contender.
Schiano has a talented roster will a handful of Pro Bowlers and owners spending money. Plus the NFL has changed a lot since those men were coaching those teams